Out of The Shadows
by PuckabrinaPercabethMYLIFE
Summary: WARNING: BoO SPOILERS. This story is answering all the unanswered Q's in BoO and contains REYNICO! Main ships:Reynico,Percabeth, Frazel, Jasper and Caleo, Traitie.Will also contain new demigods shipping. With lots of new demigods,new adventures and a cupla hilarious pranks from The Stolls ,this will be one hell of an adventure ride.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own my plot and any new characters I add. And myself.**

**AN: This is my first Fanfic. I will update as much as I can. If possible 2 chappies a are the first 2! **

**I'd like to thank LuisantEtoile for motivating me and encouraging me to publish this story. Check her out! She's uber-awesome and her stories are great! I accept criticism only if it is useful. Correction in grammar or telling me certain scene is too OOC, I accept all that. But FLAMING I do not accept. Please. **

**FOR FLAMERS: DON'T LIKE = DON'T READ. A simple equation. MEMORIZE IT.**

**Happy reading! Feel free to PM me whenever you want! I love PMing and I'm a quick replier. **

**LONG LIVE REYNICOO!( Without the age difference of course!)**

**PS-I'm not posting the next 2 chapters unless I get at least 5 reviews. Otherwise I'll delete my story:( **

**Cuz I don't wanna write and put effort into my work and proof read it like 60 times and then I figure out no one reads. So yeah. Review please! **

**(This is not a threat.) (Maybe it is.) (Try your luck?)(MUAHAHAHA!) (LEAVE THE AN AND READ THE SORY!) ( Y R U STILL HERE?) **

**Come on seriously, read the story!**

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><p>Nico collapsed onto his bed. He took a look around and smiled. Yes he <em>smiled<em>. It had become a habit now. He had stuck to his word and remodeled the Hades cabin. Now instead of the vampire beds, were normal black beds, with solid black covers and a graphic design of green Greek fire in the center of the sheet to match the outside fires surrounding the cabin. The walls were now black with the same Greek fire decor around the top and bottom edges and a huge replica of the same design lay on the center of the wall on both sides. The room had gone from black and blood-red to black and green. Nico shrugged. The colors went well with each other.

He was tired that day. He'd been practicing sword fighting all day and had trained new demigods how to face their fear of ghosts. It was a new program Annabeth had suggested to Chiron. Chiron had called upon Nico and given him the whole _I-chose-you-because-I-know-you-can-do-this _talk. Nico had agreed, but summoning ghosts really drained him. His head pounded. I mean it was bad enough having to train new demigods who were frightened by a puff of smoke, but_ no, _he had to deal with two new Aphrodite _twins _for heaven's sake. Their screams could scare away the devil - _and _blast Nico's eardrums and skull.

Nico sighed. His thoughts wandered with him until he drifted off into a deep sleep. _For Hades's sake - please no nightmares, _he thought as his eyelids drooped.

Luckily for him, his prayers were answered.

Nico found himself at his father's palace in the Underworld. Whenever Nico visited this place in his dreams, it always meant that his father wanted to speak to him. Not very often.

He looked around for his father. Then he spotted him beckoning for him to come closer.

"Approach, my son. Come closer." His clear voice wrung out in the darkness and seemed _warm. _Nico smirked to himself. _Warm _wasn't an adjective usually used to describe Lord of the Dead.

"Ah, my son." Hades said. His voice sounded bitter, yet there was warmth and love in his tone.

"Yes, father. I am here. How are you?" Nico replied uncertainly. He remembered his last conversation with his father. He had asked his father what he wanted. His father had simply replied:_ "Can you entertain the __notion that I might be here to help you, not __simply because I want something?"_

He _also _remembered his father's other words from their previous conversation: _I would like to see you to be the only exception._

Nico felt a surge of love for this tall pale figure that everyone rejected ,feared and despised at the same time. So Nico smiled. He tried to look happy and content. He gave it his best shot. _Let's hope he falls for this._

This time Nico was trying to have a normal father-son conversation. _Not very likely, _he thought.

"I'm fine, thank you. Well as fine as the Lord of the Dead can get, actually. How about you, my son? Are you _happy?_" Hades replied, interrupting Nico's train of thought.

"As happy as a _son _of the Lord of the Dead can get." Nico answered grinning.

Hades grinned back, and for a second he actually looked _handsome. _

"So… Do you need any help in anything Dad? Or you just wanted to say hi? Anything specific?" Nico was trying his best not to repeat their previous conversation. Boy was it _hard._

Hades cleared his throat. " Actually I called on you to reward you."

Nico stared intently at his father.

"Reward me? For _what?_"

"Without you the gods wouldn't have been able to… fix their personality disorder problems. We would've been fighting with ourselves right now if not for you."

"But Reyna-"

"Reyna was rewarded by Athena. She was given her blessing _and _Bellona's blessing. You, though ,have not been rewarded by anyone so _I_ decided to reward you, being your father and all."

"So my reward is…"

"Anything."

Nico pondered this. _Anything?_ He could ask to become immortal and his father would give him immortality. He could become a _god._ _Is that what I really want?, _he thought, _A god? No… _

Then it hit him. _Age. _All of the seven were older than him. Reyna was older than him. Will Solace was older than him. He wanted to be _seventeen._ He was tired of being seen as a kid, a mere child. He had more experience in life than Dakota, son of Bacchus, who was turning eighteen.

He wanted Reyna to look at him as a friend not as a little brother. He thought about Reyna. He liked her. A _lot. _She wasn't too girly and fussy and she wasn't a man-eating _drakon _like Clarisse. But she still looked at him the way Bianca used to look at him. He wanted her to _confide _in him. She was really pretty. _Beautiful _actually. _Think straight Nico… No time for daydreaming._

"Nico?"

Nico jumped. _Oh, yeah. Dad, Reward, Age…_He took a deep breath.

"Err..Yeah, I've decided. I want to be seventeen."

Hades looked taken aback.

"Are you sure, Nico? That's a really simple request. Nothing elaborate? A palace in the underworld, for instance? Of course it can't be as grand as mine or I'd be a laughing-stock on Olympus… I already _am…" _Nico's Dad was starting to think out loud incoherently. This time Nico was the one who interrupted his dad's self-pity party.

"Dad? Yeah the palace thing would be cool and all - but making me seventeen would be just fine. It would make me _happy._" Nico emphasized on the word _happy. _It seemed to be his father's weakness.

"If you insist… Your wish shall be granted." Hades didn't look thrilled by Nico's request but in a way he felt relieved. At least Nico hadn't asked for Hades's throne or anything like _that._

Nico smiled. _Your wish shall be granted? Seriously? That makes him sound like a fairy godmother. As long as he hasn't blasted me with a column of fire, I guess I'm safe. Oh well._

"Dad can I like, have a driver's license, too? Please?"

The warmth in Hades's eyes was replaced by black fire but it was short-lived. When the warmth returned in his eyes, Hades made a shocking discovery.

"You, my son, are one _infuriating_ kid."

Nico grinned _again. _His mouth was starting to ache,now._ "_One of my best qualities. And I guess I'll take that as a yes."

Hades grunted in response.

"Oh, and Dad?"

"What _now_?" His father seethed.

"Thanks."

Hades smiled one more time, then he shooed Nico off. "Off with you, my boy. Give me some peace."

The rest of Nico's sleep was dreamless. No gorgons chasing him and no Gaia threatening him either.

In his sleep, Nico wondered what the age transformation would be like. Would he wake up as his older self or grow faster? He had no idea. _Maybe I'll have a six-pack…_


	2. Chapter 2

Nico awoke to the sound of persistent knocking on his cabin door. Usually Nico was a heavy sleeper but the knocking had been going on for a while- 15 minutes _non-stop. _

_That's odd, _Nico thought, _Must be a machine from the Hephaestus cabin. Or the Stolls._

Nico got up to see his persistent knocker. On his way he passed by the mirror.

Nico passed out.

A few minutes later, when Nico had recovered from his sudden black out; he mustered as much courage as he could gather and approached the mirror hanging on his wall. Ignoring the annoying knocking on his door, he took a step towards the mirror. He reached there with his eyes closed. Finally he opened his eyes.

Nico gasped.

Replacing his short, thin figure was a tall muscular one. Gone was the skeleton-like figure he used to have. Now he was as well built as Percy or Jason. He noticed that he would be taller than Reyna now. _Finally. _

The odd thing was that his clothes had changed too. Nico usually slept with a pair of shorts and a random t-shirt. Many a time he was _so _tired that he ended up sleeping fully dressed. Now his black plain t-shirt was made to fit. It wasn't baggy like he preferred. Now it was tight on his skin but instead of exposing his ribs they exposed a 6-pack. _I _do _have_ _a 6-pack!_

He walked over to his closet and opened it only to find that _all _his clothes were the same size. Now he didn't mind the tight clothes. No more baggy t-shirts and drooping jeans.

To put it simply, Nico liked his appearance. A _lot._

_Thanks, Dad_, he thought.

The only thing that hadn't changed was his hair. It was still chin length and pure black.

The knocking on the door continued. Nico glanced at the digital clock by his bedside. 6:30.

_Who the heck would knock on my door at this time in the morning?_

Nico looked through the peephole on his door prepare for whatever attack or assault that he may have to face accordingly and almost passed out _again. _A _zombie _stood at the foot of his door knocking robotically. It was wearing a crisp white shirt with black tights topped of with a frilly white half-apron. The colors contrasted gruesomely with its almost-green skin tone. Its face was sunken and hollow.

_Like Jules-Albert_, Nico thought.

Finally he opened the door. The zombie expression remained nonchalant as it stepped in. Nico carefully shut the door behind it and took a deep breath. He turned to face his ugly visitor.

The first thing Nico noticed about the zombie was that he had a large cart with him that looked like it had come from a beauty parlor. It was filled to the rim with brushes, scissors, hair products, hair spray, hair dryers, hair curlers and just about hair everything.

_How on earth did he get the cart up the stairs_?, Nico thought incredulously.

Another thing Nico noticed was the silky black envelope in the zombie's left hand. Nico held his hand out, pointing to the envelope and the zombie automatically handed it over to Nico.

Nico tore it open and a piece of paper slipped out with a thick card, like a credit card. The paper read:

**YOU NEED A HAIRCUT.**

**-DAD**

** PS- SHAKE HIS HAND.**

Nico put the paper back into the envelope and stared intently at the card. It was his _driving license. _Nico was on the verge of hopping up and down with joy, when he noticed a few peculiar things about his driving license:

a) Where his picture was supposed to be there was a blank box with a big question mark; b) It was pretty darn _thick _for a credit card_; _c) There was a very tiny _USB slit _in the back of his card. But what bothered him the most was the blank box with the question mark. Talk about _disturbing._

Nico glanced up at his visitor, only to see that he had fully assembled a complete dresser -pure black, quite manly- with an elaborate mirror and green streaks around the edges.

_Shake his hand? _, Nico questioned, _Dad's going nuts._

Nico cleared his throat and reluctantly held his hand out once again, this time gesturing for a handshake. The zombie took his hand. Its hand was wrinkled and the skin seemed to droop of his bones. It didn't exactly smell great either. Nico felt like gagging but he didn't trust the zombie reaction. After all you never knew with zombies. After three firm shakes, the zombie's voice made its way into Nico's head. It had a thick accent, probably French. Its "r's" were pronounced 'gh'. Its lips did not move it spoke directly into Nico's head. Like the Oracle.

_My name is Monsieur Champagne, _It said, _I was a famous hairdresser in the 16__th__ century, in France. In fact I was the 1__st __hairdresser in Paris! I died of a heart attack when I was in my late 70's. Your father has requested that I give you a 'modern haircut'. I am not very experienced with those but I did some research on __so I think I know what he means. Your hair is pure black so I think I'll use Sunsilk extra-shine for black hair. I hope I can find the men's. And no signs of dandruff but a little oily so I'll use-_

Nico interrupted the zombie's ranting- it was giving him a headache- by asking a question:

"My dad sent you?"

_Yes, Monsieur._

"You're experienced?"

_Of course!_

"You've got your supplies?"

_Yes._

"Do you know who I am?"

_Nico di Angelo, son of Lord Hades._

"So you know that I can send you to the Fields of Punishment if you mess up my hair, right?"

_I will try my best not to, Monsieur. The Fields of Punishment are quite… harsh._

"So'm I. Lets get this done, Champ. Can I call you that? O.K."

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><p>After Nico had sat himself on the stool, gotten his hair washed, scrubbed, shampooed, pulled, yanked, and rinsed; Champagne dried Nico's hair when Nico made a smart request.<p>

"Do you think you've got silk gloves?"

_Yes, Monsieur. No respectable man in Paris is seen without a pair of silk gloves, in the 16__th__ century! That would be unacceptable!_

"So put'em on."

_Do you not trust my nimble fingers, Monsieur?_

"Dude sorry to burst your bubble or anything, but even if you used a tub a Vaseline smooth and soft hand cream 10 times a day; I would _never _trust your amazingly nimble fingers."

Champagne sighed. _As you wish, Monsieur._

Reluctantly Champagne reached into a compartment in his large cart and took out a pair of _hot-pink _silk gloves and proceeded to cut Nico's hair.

"Pink?" Nico was biting his tongue to keep from laughing.

_The latest fashion, Monsieur. Madame Blanche's newest design. Pink gloves for men. You are very old-fashioned, Monsieur, with all due respect! No wonder your father has asked for a 'modern haircut'!_

This time Nico couldn't keep from laughing. " Yeah, _I'm _old-fashioned. Dude it's the _twenty-first century. _No more _gloves._ And definitely not _pink _gloves. C'est fini, Monsieur Champ. Over, done, _gone."_

In response, Champ grunted and continued to trim Nico's hair. Nico wished he could see Champ's progress but the zombie had turned Nico's chair so that he faced his bed, with his back to the dresser. Meaning no mirror.

Finally, after what seemed eternity, Champ finished. Good timing too, because Nico was starting to squirm in his seat. Nico crossed his fingers as he carefully removed the black silk cape draped over his shoulders. Champagne turned Nico's chair around so that he faced the mirror.

_Voila. _

Nico's eyes were squeezed shut. Slowly he started to open his eyes and by the time they were completely open they weren't alone. His mouth was hanging open too, as he sat there gaping at his own reflection.


End file.
